Immersion Workshop: Facilitation, Meeting Design, Synthesis Opportunities

Dr. Jonathan (Jon) G. Kramer is the Executive Director of the Hudson River Foundation in New York City and was previously SESYNC’s Director of Interdisciplinary Science, serving in that position from the Center’s opening until March 2021. Prior to his role at SESYNC, Jon served as the Director of the Maryland Sea Grant College program. As a founding leader of SESYNC, Jon developed and applied new approaches to accelerate and enhance actionable interdisciplinary team scholarship. Through his work, he championed new approaches in the use of facilitation, synthesis, and consensus building to help address critical issues at the interface of people, society, and the environment. Over the years, Jon has been invited to give numerous presentations at universities, conferences, and workshops to share and promote these approaches. He also founded SESYNC’s graduate student program and is co-leading an intensive, multi-year study on the effectiveness of this program. In addition, he co-leads a project supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Marine Conservation Initiative on evaluating the effectiveness of ocean planning in delivering socio-ecological benefits. 

In his previous work, Jon contributed substantially to the development of scientific infrastructure to support ecosystem-based fisheries management in the Chesapeake Bay and he contributed to a synthesis of historical data relevant to the suitability of dredged materials from the Baltimore Harbor for innovative reuse options. Jon continues to be engaged in efforts that foster organizational development and strategic planning and management to strengthen science-based organizations. Jon received a BS from the University of Massachusetts, an MS from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and his PhD from the University of Maryland. He conducted his doctoral research at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, where he studied the physiology and molecular biology of marine cyanobacteria.

Dr. James Boyd was SESYNC's Director of Social Science and Policy from 2011 to 2022, while also a Senior Fellow at Resources for the Future in Washington, DC, holding the Thomas Klutznick Chair in Environmental Policy. James earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and has been a visiting professor at Stanford University and Washington University in St Louis. James’ research emphasizes collaboration between ecologists and economists to guide decisions that affect natural resources. His work considers how natural systems contribute to economic wealth and social well-being and how policies can be designed to protect and enhance valuable ecosystem goods and services. James has worked with diverse partners from government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private-sector institutions, emphasizing close collaboration between decision makers and academic researchers to generate science that is useful and practical in real-world settings. He has served on government and private advisory panels, including the National Academy of Sciences, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board, the Ecological Society of America, and others, including the U.S. EPA’s Committee on Valuing Ecological Systems and Services. As a consultant, he has advised the World Bank, European Commission, numerous federal and state agencies, and NGOs concerned with conservation and environmental protection.

External Links:
https://www.rff.org/people/james-w-boyd/